Notary fees when buying Swiss property

Why there is no purchase without a notary

A Swiss property purchase is only valid if the contract is publicly notarized. The notary verifies the parties’ identity, explains the legal consequences, reads out the contract and files the change of ownership with the land register. This mandatory service has its price — and that price is set not by the market but by the canton. How large the bill turns out therefore depends far less on negotiating skill than on the canton where the property is located.

State-run and independent notariats

Two organisational models shape Switzerland. Under the state notariat (Amtsnotariat), public offices do the notarizing — in Zurich the cantonal notary offices, elsewhere the land register office or the municipal clerk. The fees go to the public purse and follow a fixed tariff. Under the independent notariat, self-employed notaries handle the deed, as in Bern or Geneva. Independent does not mean free in price: the fees of independent notaries also follow a binding cantonal tariff almost everywhere; what is free is above all the choice of notary within the canton. Some cantons run mixed systems with state-employed and independent notaries side by side.

How the tariffs calculate

The tariff mechanics vary widely. Per-mille tariffs are common, computing the fee as a share of the purchase price — sometimes as a single rate, sometimes as a scale in which higher price tranches carry lower rates. Other cantons work with fee tables: for each price bracket the tariff names a fixed franc amount or a band from minimum to maximum within which the invoice must be justified — the Bern model with its framework tariff. Yet other tariffs only define ceilings (“up to”) that the notary must stay below, as in Ticino. On top of that come minimum fees almost everywhere, plus separate items for disbursements, certified copies and the land register filing. Who pays is also regulated differently: usually the requesting party — in practice the buyer — and in a few cantons both parties in equal halves by law.

Keep in mind that notarizing the purchase contract is not the only notarial service in a purchase. If the purchase is financed with a mortgage, the notarization of the mortgage note comes on top as a transaction of its own — sometimes following the same tariff pattern, sometimes billed by time spent with a minimum fee, as in the Bern model. Where the bank works with prepared standard deeds, this part often turns out cheaper in practice.

The VAT question

Whether VAT is added to the notary’s bill depends on the organisational model and on cantonal law. Independent notaries as a rule charge VAT on top of the tariff. With state-run notariats the picture is mixed: in some cantons the notarization fee is expressly subject to VAT, in others it is exempt. When comparing costs it therefore pays to always look at the final amount including tax — the canton pages state the practice for each canton.

Where this sits in the overall budget

The notary fee is one of four cost blocks of a purchase — alongside the transfer tax, the land register fee and the cost of the mortgage note, which the guide to the land register and mortgage note explains. How large its share is differs considerably by canton: where no transfer tax applies, the notary quickly becomes the largest item. The tariffs of all cantons with sources and check dates are collected in the canton overview; you can run your own purchase through the calculator.